depreciate

English

Etymology

Latin depretiare, depreciare, to depreciate, from de- + pretium, price

Verb

depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)

1. (intransitive) To reduce in value over time.
2. (transitive) To belittle

Synonyms

• (reduce in value over time):
• (belittle): do down

Antonyms

• (reduce in value over time): appreciate
• (belittle): aggrandise/aggrandize, big up (slang)

Translations

To reduce in value over time

Bulgarian: обезценявам (bg)

Finnish: laskea (fi)

To belittle

Bulgarian: подценявам (bg)

Finnish: vähätellä (fi), väheksyä (fi)

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with deprecate, which means 'to disapprove of'. The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate in the sense 'to belittle'.